Quote Originally Posted by Ryllharu
I had thought I had separated the paragraphs in an attempt to emphasize, but it seems that content went overlooked.

I specifically stated that while the translation is 100% legal, and is the property of the translator in regards to the specific wording and phrasing, "You just can't put it onto the original work and give it away or sell it off."
Except that is wrong, in the United States and Berne Convention countries.

A translation is a substantial "derived work", and you have to license the original work under terms that will let you create a substantial derived work for the translation to be legal to distribute. Merely watching/downloading the show does not grant such a license (unless it does so explicitly, like those "Creative Commons" blogs and YouTube videos, or GPL software).

The only reason these cases aren't seeing court is because there's no point in marginalizing the community of free advertising providers and fans. FUNimation said as much in their letter. "We know everyone who visits <blah website> is a big fan".

This is kind of a good strategy from FUNimation's perspective -- let the fansubbers get people hooked, gather market research on popular shows, and make the fans buy the last episodes from them.